Winsted schools operating on a tight budget

WINSTED >> Public schools in Winsted faced the threat of utility shutoffs as part of the cash crunch, but the district is in the clear and ready to examine its systems.

The board touched on the process regarding bill payments during its finance committee meeting on Tuesday night, discussing the tangle of paperwork which is involved in paying vendors. Winsted has caught up on its bills, according to business manager Nadine Savage, who remarked that "we're no longer in shutoff status."

But Savage warned that the financial report was somewhat misleading. As of Jan. 31, the district has reportedly overspent its budget by $107,622. However, Savage said that the district expects to receive $238,000 in excess cost payments from the state, which would push Winsted back under the budget by $130,378 at the end of the fiscal year. Until those funds arrive, though, Winsted will have to watch its bills.

"As a result," Savage said of the excess cost funds, "we won't be overspent. We have some room. Not a lot, but there's some room."

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Winsted paid down its outstanding bills through January as well, boosting its expenditures from the December report. Savage said that in December, the district had spent just under $8 million, but it has now expended $11,090,687, with another $10,728,517 encumbered. These encumbrances include the remainder of the district's utility bills, as well as benefits and salary, as well as other expenses.

"We don't give them the encumbered amount," Savage said. "We give them the one bill that's come in so far."

Bills are sent to the office in weekly bundles, which shocked board member Christine Royer. Currently, the school system's accounting software is not connected to the municipal business office. The district sends its bills to the municipal office, where they print out physical checks for the board of education's consideration.

"They take just the totals into their system," Savage said, "not the detail."

However, the final discretion on bill payments rests on the municipal finance director. Near the end of Henry Centrella's tenure, the finance office put the squeeze on the school system, Savage said, asking the school business office to prioritize its payments.

"Henry would tell (purchasing director) Mark (Douglass) 'pay only what you absolutely have to pay if someone's calling you'," said Savage.

However, a cash influx as a result of tax payments cleared the way for Winsted's school system to get out from under their outstanding obligations.

"The last time we submitted a list to the town," Savage said, "we said we had $300,000 worth of bills that had to get paid, and they said 'go ahead and pay them'."